Brother Complex
by Dark Sadistic Angel
Summary: 4 2, 1 2- vampire Heero calls on Duo. Duo is angsting over his brother, Quatre, whom he is in love with.


4+2, 1+2 on the side. Angst and vampire fict. Disclaimers apply.

Brother Complex

By Dark Sadistic Angel

The way Quatre moved through the crowds of nobility and people of extreme wealth always fascinated Duo. He secretly admired the sheer elegancy with which his half-brother could move through, and yet pause enough still at various group to hold a light conversation. He flitted from company to company like a butterfly, without stopping at all in his speech. The night's party was held in honour of Quatre's birth date, his nineteenth year. He was almost a year older than Duo by ten months. Their age gap was small yet, Duo lowered down his wineglass, Quatre was far more mature than he was. He could admit it without envy. It was simply the truth.

People had always turned to Quatre because of the maturity and sound reasoning he had. It seemed to have came inherited with his status as the first son and heir to the Winner Empire. Iria, although the eldest of them, was female, and hence through the traditional law, could not inherit. But their sister was not in the least bitter. She valued independence more. If he turned his head to the left, he could see the blond woman talking with the servers. Duo did not. His attention was fixated, as usual, on only one person. Fool that he was, he was unable to help himself.

Tonight though, he played no laughing fool. He could not. In fact, he doubt he could smile again at all. The meeting before the party had totally drained whatever energy he had with the bombshell Quatre had dropped. Iria had been happy. Quatre's mother had been ecstatic. He supposed their shared father too would have been happy if he lived. He had been shocked and now he was miserable. The wine was a weak brew, and did not contain enough alcohol to dull the pain he felt inside. He wanted something stronger, but it would have been telling if he ordered stronger drinks, which was something he rarely did. It was bad enough that Quatre somehow sensed a little of his emotions. That was why he was avoiding him. Duo did not want Quatre to know. He was content enough to watch the other from afar. It was all he could do. After the announcement, Duo had wanted to disappear forever. But he knew he could not. Yet. So he had to wait for the party's end, and afterwards.... Duo's shoulder shuddered.

He could do it.

Maybe.

He lifted up his chin as he heard chiming of bells. Quatre was at the head of the banquet now, his face alit in laughter as he tilted his head towards a blonde girl. She too, was laughing along with Quatre, drawn in by the other's charisma. As the chiming ended, Quatre nodded towards the girl and then stood up straight before the assembled crowd. He opened his mouth. Duo could not hear his words, but he read them on the curve of Quatre's lips. As Quatre's speech ended, there was an out roar of clapping and whistles. The blond boy waved his arm to calm down the crowd, then he broke into laughter. Quatre looked up, and suddenly Duo knew Quatre was looking straight at him. He waved at him.

Duo felt his lips curve in a echoing smile at the wave. Odd. He could still smile. Maybe he could still laugh too. He waved back and then descended down towards the gathering. It was time for him to offer his formal congratulations to Quatre on his brother's engagement.

Dry retch. Nope. Nothing was going to come up at all. He had been fighting nausea for a hour now, bent over the sink. Duo wiped the spit from the corners of his mouth. The idea of drinking all the remaining punch had seemed good at the time, but now he regretted his action. The punch had been blessfully strong, the alcohol in it masked well. But the pure sickly sweetness of it combined with the alcohol had produced some sort of reaction in Duo after he had practically drank half the brew. Mixed drinks made him more physically sick than when he simply drank straight alcohol. He made a vow to stay away from mixed drinks. He should have also made a vow to stay permanently away from alcohol, but he knew he could not keep the promise. Ah his brother would have his arse because of his drinking. Quatre was so strict in following religion sometimes. His face clouded. Quatre... . His stomach turned. Duo retched again.

'Not very happy, are you?'

Duo peered bleary into the mirror. There was a brown hair youth behind him. Unlike the other party attendees, he was not dressed in a suit. Instead, he wore simple white jeans and a white cotton shirt. Over it, he wore a long, black coat. Duo did not recognise the stranger. He shrugged. There were many people he didn't know at the party.

'You think?' He was too tired to wonder why was the person was in his private bathroom. All he knew was there was another person whom he had to play the fool to, and he was too tired to. He could barely manage a polite smile.

'You're not happy. I can hear your sorrow.' The boy walked closer to Duo and stopped at his side. He leant over, his face serious. 'It calls.'

The guy was weird. Or maybe it was the other way around. Duo chuckled. 'And what sound would my sorrow make?'

'It calls a sole name rather forlornly,' The youth before him suddenly smiled. 'It calls out desperately for a person called Quatre.'

Duo exhaled out harshly. His head snapped up. 'How do you know!?'

'I know a lot of things.'

'Nobody should know I-' he stopped. 'Who the hell are you? What are you doing here? If you want to blackmail-' Duo stood up. The world suddenly spun. 'Whoa.' He grabbed hold of the sink. He was so sick, he couldn't think straight.

'Calm down Maxwell. I am not looking to harm you.'

Gentle arms wrapped around him. To Duo's groggy surprise, he was lifted up easily into an embrace and carried out of the bathroom. He was set down onto his bed. Duo laid on his back with his legs sprawled outwards. The youth mounted the side of the bed and moved over him. A heavy weight settled on top of him. Duo looked up into the eyes of the stranger. Blue. It was a startling clear blue. Duo frowned. However there was something wrong. Pupils. The stranger had none- no, he did, but it was blue also. His pupils was barely a shade darker than his irises, almost unable to be distinguished. Contacts perhaps? Actually, what was the guy doing on top of him anyway? Ugh, his head was still spinning. And he was starting to get a headache. He could feel a throbbing increasing behind his temples.

'Would you like the pain to stop?'

'Aah... can you make it all stop?'

'Everything, or just the physical pain first?'

Duo blinked. 'Huh?'

A hand brushed his forehead.

Suddenly Duo's vision sharpened and he became stone cold conscious. Everything disappeared. Nausea, his head pain and the blurred fuzziness the alcohol had given him. He became very much aware of his circumstance. He looked up at the stranger on top of him and felt his heart drop.

'What are you?' he whispered.

'Ask another question Maxwell, the answer to that one you don't need to know.'

'Don't need to know, or won't answer?'

'Both.'

'Oh.' Duo thought. He could faintly recall the stranger telling him that he was not there to harm him, so what did he want?

'Why are you here?'

'To help you.'

'Why?'

The youth smiled. 'The pain is great, isn't it?' He learnt down and pressed his lips to Duo's ear. The skin of his neck prickled at the contact. 'Loving your own brother in a forbidden way.'

A sharp shard pierced through Duo's heart, and his eyes flew open at the whispered truth.

'How...?'

'I know everything about you. Your hopes, your wishes... your sinful desires.'

'Are you the devil, here to take my soul away?' Duo felt no fear, strangely. Perhaps he always knew he deserved to rot in hell because of his unnatural desire. He thought the devil waited until death at least, but he had no qualms about going earlier. After Quatre's engagement, he did not feel like living any more.

'No, I am not the devil. He doesn't exist for you. I am, in a way, your angel.'

'Will you bring me to god?'

Duo felt the lips on his skin curve.

'He doesn't exist for you either. But I can give you something better than heaven.'

'What's the catch? Nothing good is ever for free.'

'True.'

'Then what is your price, and what do you offer for it?'

'My price is blood.'

'Then you are a vampire? I don't want eternal life. A normal lifespan is too long as it is anyway.'

'I am not a vampire.'

'So what do you offer?' Although Duo was fully aware, he felt strangely detached from the circumstance, as if he was viewing his situation from away.

'To be together with your loved one.'

'That's impossible. Quatre is engaged, and-'

'There is a place inside of you where you are forever with him. Remember?'

Something tickled the back of his mind. Something important. The smell of dew.

'Do you want to return there?'

It was so familiar. Duo's breath caught as the image excluded him. The memory danced away. Oh he wanted it badly. He wanted to see Quatre again. His Quatre.

'Will it hurt?' His voice sound distanced. 'I don't want to be hurt anymore.'

'Only a little at first. But then you will be where you want to be, in a field of memories.' He traced Duo's jawline. 'Come to me.'

Duo closed his eyes and lifted his head, exposing his neck.

'Good boy.'

Soft lips pressed against his skin, then a sharp pain ripped into him. Duo's eyes flew open and he screamed. He tried to push the stranger away. A hand pressed firmly against his mouth, suppressing his screams. Duo's strength was drained away. His arms dropped weakly to his side, and darkness overtook him.

_Laughter hanged in the air._

'It looks like Duo has gotten over whatever that has been depressing him. Look, he's in the rose garden.'

_The fading afternoon light had cast its shadow over the two boys playing in the field._

'Duo! Come over here, will you? Dorothy's been waiting to meet you for a long time.'

_The grass had been slick with rain, and the ground muddy. However it had not deterred the two from dirtying themselves as they leap to catch the remaining butterflies fluttering from flower to flower._

'Quatre, I don't think he's paying attention. Is there something wrong with him? He's got a strange look on his face.'

_Duo had captured one with his net. It had been a beautiful butterfly. Pale sea green blue, flicked with gold streaks._

'Rasid, hold my drink for a moment. Ladies, please excuse me.'

_It fluttered in his net frantically as he held his catch to Quatre._

_"'See, I got one! And you haven't.'"_

_"'What are you going to do with it?'"_

'... Duo? Duo, what's wrong with you?'

_"'Watch.'"_

_With great care not to harm the butterfly, he opened the net again. He smiled happily._

'Snap out of it... Duo. Duo!'

_And he let the butterfly go free. _

Fin.

DSA


End file.
